THE RÔLE OF THE PROPRIOCEPTORS IN SHIVERING

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Shivering movements in cats were recorded by means of 2 phonograph pickups connected to a Grass two-channel ink-writing oscillograph. Simultaneous records of the tremor were made in normal and in deafferented hind limbs. The movements of the limbs during shivering were rhythmic on the normal side, always irregular on the deafferented side. A hemidecerebellate animal and 2 animals with severance of one dorsal column shivered normally on both sides. The rate of shivering in a normal muscle could be changed by 100% or more by varying the mechanical resonance of the moving muscle. This was accomplished by adjusting the position of a pair of wts. mounted on a lever attached to the tendon, or by varying the tension of a rubber band against which the tendon pulled. Deafferented muscles did not shiver rhythmically even with this arrangement. It is concluded that the rhythmicity and rate of shivering are detd. peripherally by a mechanism which involves the proprioceptors and resembles that of reflex clonus. The rate of shivering in the normal animal is probably close to the resonant frequency of the moving part. A pacemaker action of the shivering center appears unlikely.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: